During our time sightseeing and even during our free-time, we could see how Japanese practice their religions through different means of praise, celebration, and customs throughout our tour. The Japanese practice Shintoism and Buddhism as their two major faiths it the population with many shrines and temples being distributed from the downtown cities and the rural villages. Many shrines were constructed somewhat recently to very ancient times of when Japan first practiced religions like Shinto and Buddhism. There are traditional methods to praying at the shrines in different places and typically vary depending on what shrine you visit. It was very enlightening to see how the people of Japan practice their religion by washing their hands before praying and giving tribute of five yen to the god the shrine represents.
The beautiful architecture really took my breath away as I viewed how nature and arrangement were evenly distributed through the sites. The first temple and shrine we visited was the shrine in Asakusa which is represented as a Buddhist temple where thousands would come to enjoy many street vendors, food vendors and toward the end, pray to the religious figure at the main temple or shrine. When at Asakusa, I tested my luck by drawing a fortune from the drawers after paying tribute to the god. In the end I ended up receiving regular luck toward health, love, and financial stability. After drawing fortunes we went up the main gate to pray at the main temple shrine by bowing and wishing for what we want to come true in life. After praying you are able to purchase charms to improve luck with the gods.
The environment of the temple shrine was beautiful with many hints of nature being strewn about the shrines we visited in Japan. Another example we visited was the festival in Tokyo that took place every other year. We were very lucky to have free time during the time of the festival as it is a rare occurrence that happens biyearly with traditional practices of praising the god of the shrine and seeing the people of the area celebrate the god with a idol being carried to main shrine structure. The food was also very good, as I tried the real timed made yakisoba in the area with street vendors which was very delicious. While watching the festival take place we found that an ambassador from Mexico came to the area of Japan to take part in the festival.
While in Hiroshima, we took a train to Miyajima, then a ferry to the island wear another shrine from the UNESCO heritage list is. During our tour of this shrine, we found it was home to the many gods that are praised in this area and that the deer population on the island are considered to be servants of those gods. The architecture was really a sight to see as the gate that stands on the beach faces the island in from of the shrine, and seeing visual instances of what it could of looked like at different times when the gate is standing in the water. There were also many vendors and shops to visit while in the shrine area, along with many trails leading to the upper areas of the mountains. We actually learned that the shrine was constructed by a powerful military leader at the time of Japan’s samurai era.
Seeing all of these shrines and temples helped me to see Japan’s ancient traditions first hand and separate it from the modernizations of areas like Tokyo with bright lights and pop culture throughout the cities. This helped me to see the history of Japan in another light and how it got to the point from feudalism, to militarization, and finally to the modern Japan that we see today. Along with the fact that that many of these structures are being successfully maintained in today’s era is a marvel as many of us can still look back to the people who came before and built Japan to what it is today. I felt very lucky to see these places as in the United States we are not used to seeing very many places that show ancient traditions with the United States being a semi-young nation. In the end I felt that this was a very culturally enlightening experience as we ourselves practiced some of the cultures of Japan and learned the history along the way.
